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TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Another flat-fee online agency launches - with extra charges

Another online estate agency has launched, claiming to save vendors thousands of pounds by “getting rid of all the unnecessary stuff high street agents do.” 

Just599 charges a flat fee of £599 “to get your house up on those big property portals” of Rightmove, Zoopla and PrimeLocation.

However, additional costs offered by the firm soon add up. 

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Photographs for property details cost £119 including VAT, with aerial shots an extra £29 on top. A floor plan is £119 and if that were to be 3-D interactive there’s a bill of another £79. 

A For Sale board costs £119 and an EPC is £99. But the really big cost is the hosted open day on a Saturday or Sunday - that would be an extra £399.

Add all those extras to the £599 and the total becomes £1,562.

“A 1.5 per cent commission fee from a high street agent would result in a bill of over £10,000 just from selling a £560,000 home. A £10,000 fee for selling an average London home? It's enough to get a decent second-hand Porsche - you wouldn’t buy an estate agent a Porsche would you?” asks the agency’s marketing director Ian Reece. 

He says that “in the same way that consumers are increasingly using Uber instead of black cabs, property owners will start to use Just599 rather than commission-based estate agents.” 

Reece also claims that his service “answers a question that many people have often asked: why do estate agents charge so much money? The answer seems to have been 'because they could'.” 

Meanwhile another small online agency, Derby-based Mouse House, has announced that it has attracted “a generous investment” from a US businessman. 

Agency managing director Mark Whitehead does not reveal how much has been put in but says the businessman - a former founder of a pharmaceutical software business - has become a director and his funds will “catapult the firm to the next level.”

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    One has to question the legitimacy of this company. I have just checked them out, and one of their 'under offer' properties is one that my agency is currently marketing in Manchester. They claim that it is in London and have used all of our pictures... Just called them up to enquire and have been informed that Mr Reece will be calling me back sometime this morning. Let's see what the excuse is...

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    On behalf of Just599, we hold our hands up and apologise. No excuses. Our web developer was using other agents images and description whilst we were testing our portal and this was not removed before the launch of the site on Monday. Please except my apology and rest assured that this mistake will not be repeated.

  • jeremy clarke

    YAWN! Remember Seekers back in the 80's boom, where are they now? When the market is good this sort of company will do okay but when the market starts to get tougher nothing beats the High Street Agent who cannot hide behind an internet page and probably has more local knowledge that anyone sitting in a call centre is a tucked away corner of the country! The other thing of course is, I guess that these guys want your money up front whereas the high Street Agent does a lot of this on trust. £119 to erect a for sale board, where's my van and mallet??

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    Hi Jeremy, we operate in South West London and we are local to Earlsfield. The financial backers of Just599 are simply interested in trying to launch a 'local online agent' rather than a national one (Tepilo and Purple Bricks have a more national focus for example). As for the prices, well they are all optional and although they do add up when selected, we think people would still prefer a bill of around £1,500 up front rather than a bill of £10k at the end (based on 1.5% commission plus VAT on a home of £560k) especially when you also have stamp duty, legal bills and removal costs to pay.

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